I have not read any Howard yet but plan to. Thanks to everyone for the advice on reading order.

Any connection between the Frost Giant in the FG's Daughter and the D&D Frost Giant?

Beyondthebreach wrote:No direct connection, but I am sure that Howard provided extensive inspiration and influence for D&D.  The "Frost Giant's Daughter" in question is actually the child of the Aesir God, Ymir.  She appears on battlefields and lures men with her beauty.  They follow her and are eventually led to a trap where her two brothers (Frost Giants) await to slay the warrior.

Didn't know that story, but there's a Dungeon adventure (by Wolfgang Baur, I think.  Early on, #35-65ish) that's obviously very strongly based on that tale.

Beyondthebreach wrote:No direct connection, but I am sure that Howard provided extensive inspiration and influence for D&D.

I was always pretty much convinced of a direct link, although that is opinion and not fact. Gygax is on record in numerous early issues of gaming magazines as stating how much of an influence that "classic" F/SF literature had on him both personally and professionally. He was also a prototypical Howard fanboy: remember the "Giants in the Earth" article that detailed Conan's stats at four different stages of his life? (I'm pretty sure it was four; I don't have the issue in front of me). Only a real Howard geek could have even attempted to write such an article.

So, to me, it was always pretty cut-and-dried: REH's "Frost Giant's Daughter" --->>> D&D's frost giants.

Xaxaxe wrote:

Kingofpain89 wrote:So if I wanted to delve into the mythos of Conan further, what do you recommend?

King, would a day-trip to Cross Plains be do-able? Plano is Dallas-area, right ... so it's not right next door, but it sounds like a possibility (although I should add that I'm one of those folks who doesn't mind driving long distances).

My understanding is that the Robert E. Howard home is worth a visit; it's also a museum that the locals run with the help of outside donations.

      Crossplains is probably two hours SW of Fort Worth.  A fun day trip.  The Howard house is really incredible.  Crossplains suffered greatly in the Texas wild fires; practically the entire town was literally burned to the ground.  Due to the hand of Crom, the Howard house was completely spared, which from photos I've seen is an absolute miracle (houses on all sides were burnt to the ground).  Howard Days, which always is a weekend in June, gathers Howard fans from around the world who stay for comradarie and different symposiums about REH and barbarian literature.  Anyway, just wanted to mention this because several organizations connected with the Howard House are collecting donations for the town of Cross Plains.
    The new Del Rey trade paperbacks of REH's work are superior in look and content to many other versions I've seen.  They plan on publishing all of REH's heroes eventually, the complete Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn and Cormac Mac Art are already out, I believe.  The Conan tales are divided into three volumes: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, The Bloody Crown of Conan, and The Conquering Sword of Conan.  All the volumes are profusely illustrated by Gary Gianni and Mark Schultz (I don't know who does the third volume), and the texts seem to be very accurate.  As a bonus some really good scholarly content is included.  These are by far the best editions I have seen yet published, and the softcover versions are very affordable ($15).  
  I'm not the absolute purist that a lot of REH fans are, I can enjoy non-REH DeCamp/Carter stuff like Conan the Buccaneer, Conan the Avenger, Conan of Aquilonia (but avoid Conan of the Isles, absolute crap).  Most of the post REH/DeCamp/Carter collaborations are pretty much average cut and dried sword and sorcery fantasy, and not worth reading in lieu of something better.  It's like these writers wrote a generic fantasy novel and substituted Conan's name and places in the Hyborean world for their El Genero stuff (Actually, supposedly Lin Carter's contributions were exactly this).
   After reading "pure" REH Conan and you quickly realize what an incredible talent he was, and how much the world lost when he died as he was just hitting his writing stride (much as his friend Lovecraft would in the next few years).  The problem with a lot of the non-REH Howard is that once you read the real thing, everything else starring the Barbarian absolutely pales in comparison.  When Howard is on, in stories like People of the Black Circle, Queen of the Black Coast, Beyond the Black River (one of my top ten fantasy stories of all time), and the last half of Hour of the Dragon, no one has ever touched him in the genre of heroic sword and sorcery fantasy, no one.  
 And if you like the Conan stuff, by all means get the complete Solomon Kane.  I always liked these as much or more than the Conan stuff.  His Kane story "Wings in the Night" (along with Karl Edward Wagner's short story "Misericorde") is perhaps the best heroic fantasy short story ever written......EVER.  I must have read it over 100 times in my life, and I swear I still get a chill up my spine when I read it, so poweful is the writing of REH.

Mike B.

"Barbarism is the natural state of mankind...Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph."
From "Beyond the Black River"
   
http://www.rehupa.com/

What's the title of the story where he sneaks into a tower and kills a snake on his way to steal a gem or something?  I think he scales a wall and drops down into a garden with another thief, who blows a poisonous powder at the lions waiting in the garden.  Night scene.  It was in one of the first Conan books, maybe the very first one.  It's one of my favorite stories.  I think I preferred Conan as a thief to Conan as a King or warlord.

bombadil wrote:What's the title of the story where he sneaks into a tower and kills a snake on his way to steal a gem or something?  I think he scales a wall and drops down into a garden with another thief, who blows a poisonous powder at the lions waiting in the garden.  Night scene.  It was in one of the first Conan books, maybe the very first one.  It's one of my favorite stories.  I think I preferred Conan as a thief to Conan as a King or warlord.

Dark Horse comics just did an excellent three issue adaptation of Tower of the Elephant a few months back.   They've also done God in the Bowl and Frost Giant's daughter so far in their series, all very faithful to the original REH prose (not the Decamp hybrid stuff).

Mike B.

Beyondthebreach wrote:No direct connection, but I am sure that Howard provided extensive inspiration and influence for D&D.  The "Frost Giant's Daughter" in question is actually the child of the Aesir God, Ymir.  She appears on battlefields and lures men with her beauty.  They follow her and are eventually led to a trap where her two brothers (Frost Giants) await to slay the warrior.

As you might imagine, Conan turns the tables and slays the giant brothers, his endurance outlasts the girl's and he "almost" catches her before she implores her father to save her (she disappears into the heavens in a conflagration of icy fire).

Good stuff.  Ironically, even though I had never before read the Howard books, I grew up on Conan comics and they were the first thing I collected (before becoming involved in all Marvel comics).  Most of these stories were adapted into comic form at some point  and it's pretty cool to read them now and recall the comics that I have always been so familiar with.  

I also was introduced to the character of Conan through the Roy Thomas/Barry Smith comics series (later ably illustrated by Big John Buscema in his prime).  As a matter of fact, the guy who introduced me to D&D did so by telling me that "It was just like playing Conan the Barbarian's adventures" (knowing my affinity for the Marvel comics series would get me curious enough to try the game).  Only started reading the actual REH prose in the late 70's and was happy to find it was just as good without the illustrations. My first ever D&D character was of course named Conan....

Mike B.

I have a oversized REH bib book or some such, can't remember what its called.. someone here may remember..

Brette:)

beasterbrook wrote:I have a oversized REH bib book or some such, can't remember what its called.. someone here may remember..

Brette:)

If it's sort of a big, honking, unwieldy-looking thing, I'd guess you've got "The Last Celt" by Glenn Lord. An excellent reference work, and always good for an eBay sale, if you get into desperate straits.

If it's a normal-sized trade paperback, it's probably "Dark Valley Destiny" by DeCamp, DeCamp's wife, and some 200-year-old child psycholgist that they unearthed to help them "prove" that REH had mommy issues. It's always good for kindling, if it gets cold there.